Ford is in a fightin’ mood. Last week, it launched an off-road training program called “Ranger Raptor Assault School.” Now, it’s advertising a “truck offensive.”
The offensive, however, is not an invasion or a bombing campaign. It’s an opportunity for you to negotiate a better price on a truck. Ford has a backlog of freshly built trucks, and it’s about to release them for sale.
Framing the overstock as a good thing, Ford announced this week, “never in its history has Ford mounted a truck offensive like the one about to hit U.S. dealerships and highways.” The move isn’t purely a marketing strategy.
Ford Corrected Several Quality Problems
The move is necessary because Ford paused deliveries of some trucks to dealerships in late February due to quality problems. The company is confident it has fixed the issues and has begun shipping a massive wave of trucks to dealerships.
The company explained the sales pause in the press release, announcing its sales push/ faux military campaign.
On the F-150, Ford said, “Engineers uncovered an issue where modules did not shut off at night or were consuming more power than they should.” The company updated the problematic software before any trucks left the plant.
On the Ranger Raptor, a designer “spotted a cosmetic issue on the hood of the truck that made it appear as though there was a dent.” The company “made design changes to stiffen the character lines,” which sounds like how you’d solve more than the appearance of a dent.
Ford said it also made mechanical changes to “improve powertrain smoothness on the F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid trucks.”
With those fixes, Ford is ready to release 144,000 trucks to dealerships.
Shipment Could Mean Discounts
However, dealerships are already well-stocked. Dealers traditionally aim to keep about 60 selling days’ worth of vehicles in stock. Ford dealers in mid-March had a 91-day supply on average. The onslaught of trucks may lead them to offer discounts to spur sales.
Ford is hardly in the worst position among major automakers. Ram, Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge had more than 140 days’ supply in mid-March.
Still, the rush of trucks into dealerships should make a good negotiating opportunity for those looking for a new pickup.
